Crete and Mycenae: Identifying the Roots of Greek Civilization

Assignments to hand in:    Note Chart on Minoan and Mycenaeans & Comprehension Questions

Step 1:  Introduction - Read the following text and look at the pictures.

Crete is an island of 3,189 square miles located in the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between mainland Greece and Asia Minor (AKA Anatolia or modern-day Turkey). According to legend, Crete is the birthplace of Zeus, the King of the Greek Gods. Mycenae (pronounced my-SEE-nee) is a city in the northeast of the Peloponnesian Peninsula on the Greek mainland. Legend states that Mycenae was founded by the Greek hero Perseus after he killed the monster Medusa.

Minoan culture developed on the island of Crete in approximately 3,000 B.C.E. Minoan palace murals and painted pottery show us a bountiful maritime culture, fueled by fishing, farming, and local arts. The Minoans were master seafarers and set up long-distance trade routes with Spain, Egypt, Canaan, and Asia Minor. Socially, the Minoans were an egalitarian culture, with both men and women holding respected positions in the fields of religion, agriculture, and craftwork. Recreation enjoyed by the Minoans included dancing to music and song, "bull-leaping" - a boxing, complete with boxing gloves and mouth guards. The remarkable peace-loving character of the Minoan civilization is suggested by the lack of fortresses, war equipment, and painted battle scenes among the remains of their settlements. The Minoan civilization is historically important to Greece because it was the cultural model of the Myceneaean (pronounced my-sih-NEE-in) civilization - considered the earliest developed culture on mainland Greece.

Mycenae was settled in 2,700 B.C.E. Most of the myths about ancient Greek heroes and their famous battles come to us from the Mycenaeans. Later Greek poets such as Homer used these tales in their writings. The Mycenaeans spoke an early form of the Greek language, and developed an agricultural economy based on grains, grapes, and olives. Like the Minoans, they traded by sea with Egypt and Asia Minor. Unlike the Minoans, the Mycenaeans devoted most of their energies to developing a strong military. The circular royal tombs of Mycenae reveal collections of decorated uniforms, elaborate helmets, chariots, daggers, and axes. Horses were also extremely important to the Mycenaeans, as they were the vehicles of war. Mycenaean documents suggest that their society was hierarchical, with kings and soldiers in positions of power, and prisoners of war enslaved to serve them. Apart from artwork depicting religious festivals and musical performances, very few indications of recreational entertainment were left by the Mycenaeans.

Step 2: Taking Notes - Fill out the CHART: Notes on Minoans and Mycenaeans by looking at and reading about six artifacts from each civilization.

Minoan Artifacts

Mycenaean Artifacts

Step 3: Comprehension Questions - Answer the following questions on a lined piece of paper (or Cut and Paste them into Word) in paragraph form:

1. What did the Minoan and the Mycenaean civilizations have in common?

2. In what ways were the Minoan and the Mycenaean civilizations different?

3. Why do you think so many aspects of Minoan civilization are found at Mycenae?

4. What other geographical areas, besides Mycenae, might Minoan civilization have influenced?

5. What aspects of Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations would you expect to have survived in later periods of Greek history?

Step 4: The End of Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations - Read the following text:

The Minoan civilizations of ancient Crete flourished for approximately 600 years, between 2000 and 1400 B.C.E. Cretan palaces and their surrounding villages were almost destroyed in 1700 B.C.E., when a series of severe earthquakes rocked the island. However, the Minoans rebuilt their cities and renewed production of their trade goods in a relatively short time. Within the next hundred years, the Minoans established settlements - for trade rather than imperialistic purposes - on neighboring islands of Thera, Kythera, Melos, and Rhodes. Minoan and neighboring island cultures were mutually tolerant and supportive, and the Minoans benefited from trade, and continued to create glorious artwork and architecture.

Mycenaean invaders from the Greek mainland disrupted this placid existence. It is unclear to scholars why the Mycenaeans began launching invasive expeditions in the mid fifteenth century B.C.E. It is possible that they wished to replenish supplies of copper and other ores - which Mycenaean mines had stopped yielding - needed for their production of weaponry. It is also possible that violent land-ownership disputes and trade-route conflicts caused a massive Mycenaean exodus to Asia Minor, leaving the Mycenaean economy in a weakened state. A third possibility is that the Mycenaeans could no longer fend off hostility from encroaching cultures on mainland Greece, and sought safer settlements on Crete. Whatever the case, Linear B documents recovered from Mycenae record an invasion of Crete in 1450 B.C.E., and the peaceable Minoan civilization soon came to an end. Captive Minoan architects and artists were sent to Mycenae to serve the Mycenaean kings. Meanwhile, the Cretan palace of Knossos was occupied by militaristic Mycenaean rulers. They introduced weapons, chariots, and battles into Cretan mural painting, and added the burial of weapons alongside military dead to Cretan funeral customs.

Approximately 350 years later, in 1100 B.C.E., the Dorian Greeks - united tribes from northwestern Greece and Asia Minor - invaded the settlements in the Peloponnesus, the southern Aegean islands, and Crete. Their successful campaigns ended Mycenaean rule. However, through the Dorians, elements of Minoan and Mycenaean cultures were incorporated into the art, architecture, and literature of Classical Greece.

Supplemental Videos:
Crete (Minoan civilization)
Mycenae

Supplemental Websites:
Minoan Civilization
The Mycenaeans

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